Winter's Warmth
by DisgruntledMelon
Summary: Sollux! Karkat! Miley Cyrus! Everyone is an asshole! BUT THEN THEY FALL IN LOVE
1. Chapter 1

It was the middle of November. The leaves had all fallen and the empty trees stood like skeletons. A cold wind blew throughout the campus of Veil Institute of Technology and Art and I shivered. I looked out of my car window at the neon sign on the convenience store that lit up the night. Even though I had the heat on full blast, I was still freezing. The weather forecaster had said that there was a chance of snow. Snow! In November! It seemed like a cruel joke.

It's just a little cold, Karkat. It's not that big of a deal, I told myself. I turned the car off and sprinted into the store. The frigid air stung my face but disappeared quickly as I entered the heated store. I ran through my mental shopping list. I needed milk, eggs, flour, and raspberries.

"Damn Gamzee and his pie-making juggalo ass," I cursed, not caring if anyone heard me.

The stupid clown should come get his own baking ingredients. I made a face as I picked up a container of raspberries. Faygo and fruit. That is just disgusting. I collected the other items on my list and walked over to stand in line. I sighed when I realized that the checkout person was the old man. He always took forever!

"Fan-fucking-tastic," I muttered and glared at the glass door opens with a jingle and I turned to see which unfortunate soul had walked in. That was the first time I saw him.

The first thing I noticed was his height. He was freaking tall. He was definitely the same height as Gamzee, maybe even a little taller. The next thing I noticed was how skinny he was. He was the epitome of emaciation. His cheeks were gaunt and I was horrified that I could see every one of his ribs through his t-shirt. That was another thing; it was below 32 degrees fahrenheit and this guy wasn't wearing a jacket. He wasn't even shivering! His brown hair was dull and it stuck up in the back. He pulled a hand out of his pocket to push his weird glasses up his nose. One lens was blue and the other was red. But despite all of that, I thought he looked kinda...cute.

My heart thumped in my chest. He must have noticed me staring because he stuck up his thin middle finger at me. I flushed and turned back around quickly. The girl in front of me finally finished and she walked towards the door.

"That only took a few years," I said with a glare. She glared back at me but didn't say anything. The door jingled as she left. I stepped up to the counter and put my food down.

"Good evening," the old man said, his voice crackled with age.

"Not really," I huffed, annoyed.

"That will be eleven dollars and sixty-nine cents," the old man replied.

I dug money out of my pocket and froze when heard footsteps stop behind me. It had to be him. I swallowed and forced myself to keep moving. I handed the cashier twelve dollars and drummed my fingers against the counter. He handed me my change and I snatched the plastic bag, walking quickly away. Before I got to the door, I heard the old man say,

"Haven't seen you here in a while." There was a pause and I imagined the old man squinting. "Have you been eating well, son?"

The boy's voice was dripping with annoyance as he snapped, "Who the fuck asked you?" But, with his lisp it came out "Who the fuck athked you?"

I fought the urge to giggle as pushed the door open. I hunched my shoulders against the night air and jogged over to my crappy Toyota. I yanked the door open and launched myself into the vehicle. I jammed the keys into the ignition and turned the heat on. Hot air blasted into the car and I closed my eyes in relief. I thought of the boy that I had seen. I didn't think he was in any of my classes. Gamzee might know who he is, I realized. He practically knew everyone in the whole college.

I turned the radio on and the brain-numbing sound of Miley Cyrus singing "See you again" graced my ears.

"...My heart can't rest till then. Ooh woah woah, I, I can't wait to see you again."


	2. Chapter 2

The road was relatively quiet. I had to stop a few times to honk at some deer in the road , but that was about it. I passed the entrance of the college and grimaced. The staff had apparently decided that it was a great idea to hang up a huge banner that said "Veil University- Go trolls!" on it. I hated our mascot. I mean, really, trolls? And they weren't even the ones with poofy pink hair, these trolls were gray skinned and had horns that looked like candy corn. I had read somewhere that some douche of an art major had designed it. His name was...Andy? Andrew? Whatever. The point was, our mascot was ugly and I refused to call myself a troll.

I turned left at the Blueberry Hill Apartments sign and my car started to vibrate. Then I heard a low buzzing noise. What the hell? Was that music? I realized with horror that it was. Very very loud music. Music that sounded like it was coming from my apartment building. Please let it not be him. I hissed in annoyance as the music got louder the closer I got to my building. I turned into the parking lot of building 4 and there was no mistaking where the music was coming from.

Obnoxious rap music blared out of the windows of the apartment I shared with Gamzee Makara. Gamzee was my best friend. However, that did not stop him from also being infuriatingly optimistic, lazy, seemingly carefree, and mildly creepy. But, all in all, he was pretty mellow and a good listener. What puts most people off is height and makeup. Saying that Gamzee was tall was an understatement. He was MASSIVE. He towered over everyone in the entire school. Except maybe the mystery boy I saw earlier. The second thing was his clown makeup. He wore it everyday, white face paint with gray patches around his eyes and mouth.

There had been a rumor circulating that when he was little, he ran away from his parents and joined a traveling circus. I guess it explained his love of clowns, horns, and juggling. I didn't plan on asking him if the rumor was true or not. To be honest, I didn't give a flying rat's ass about where he picked up his weird habits. Last, but not least, was his penchant for marijuana and a disgusting soda called Faygo. The dude baked that stuff into everything. I'm pretty sure he's going to die of substance abuse one day.

He was an art major and was really good at painting. The creepy part of his personality was his medium of choice. Blood. He painted fucking amazing paintings with regular paints but, he claimed his real "miracles" were the ones he painted with blood. I figured he painted with animal blood but, I always got too queasy to ask. I hoped to god it wasn't human blood.

I pulled into a parking space and turned the car off. I hopped out, too mad to worry about the cold. I walked quickly to the other side of my car and grabbed my backpack, slinging it over my shoulder. The music was so loud I could barely think. Fuck. What does that idiot think he's doing?

"That inconsiderate, annoying, brain dead asshole!" I said angrily as I yanked the door open.

The plastic bag slid down to my elbow as I covered my ears. I ran up the stairs, trying to fend off a rapidly growing headache. I moved quickly toward the door with the little 13 on it and when I got to it, I braced my hands on both sides of the door frame and savagely kicked the door. The hinges splintered and it slammed into the room. I stormed in and began yelling over the music.

"Gamzee Makara you are a fucking-"

My roommate was sitting on a chair and...kissing it? That wouldn't surprise me, seeing how he was constantly stoned. Huh? Since when did our chairs have Mohawks? OH. When my brain finally caught up with what I was seeing I blushed bright red.

Gamzee detached himself from his boyfriend. "Hey, best fr-"

I really did not need to see that. I promptly spun around and went back into the hallway, shutting the abused door behind me. I heard the wood snap and crunch. That will be another bill from the manager. I slid down the wall and sat on the carpeted floor. My headache had manifested into a vicious pounding near the back of my head. God damn. I should tell Gamzee to keep the makeouts in his room. Eugh. I would probably walk in on something worse.

The music suddenly stopped, leaving my ears ringing. Finally. I thought my head was going to explode. I heard several loud sighs of relief from the other residents on our floor. Glaring down the hallway, I muttered, "Pansy-ass douchebags."

They were probably too scared of Gamzee to report him. I snorted. If they knew what a softie he was, we would probably be kicked out of here in no time. Most likely arrested too. I picked at the old blue carpet for a few minutes and stared at the wall. Tomorrow was a Friday wasn't it... Friday was my favorite weekday because I only had two classes. I should watch a movie tomorrow after class.

The door opened beside me and I heard the soft squeak of the rubber wheels on Tavros's wheelchair.

Tavros Nitram was Gamzee's boyfriend. He had tanned skin from working outside during the summer and a splash of freckles across his nose. He was in wheelchair because he was paralyzed from the knees down. I had no idea why and didn't really want to know. He graduated from some college a year ago and currently worked at a coffee shop a little off campus. He was nice guy, really. Most of the time his niceness bothered me.

"Uh. I'm sorry for surprising you like that," he said.

I got up, brushing dirt from my jeans. I just held up my hand, effectively cutting him off. "Save it. I don't care."

"Um. Ok. Bye, Gamzee! Bye, Karkat!" He smiled and I noticed that he now had a nose piercing.

"Bye, Tavbro," Gamzee said lazily. I tried to go inside but, he was effectively blocking the door. Tavros began to wheel away. Gamzee pinched my arm and looked at me expectantly.

"Bye, Tavros," I sighed and the clown moved out of the way.

"I'm gonna help Tavbro get into his car." He hurried after his boyfriend and I rolled my eyes.

I shuffled into the apartment and dropped the groceries in the counter. I dropped my backpack on the couch and I went straight into my room and collapsed on my bed. Damn books. I pushed the textbooks out from under my body to the floor.

I had just began to drift off when the door of the apartment opened and Gamzee walked in. He hummed cheerily while he was putting the food away. Who the fuck had that much energy this late?

"That is the last time I get your fucking pie ingredients ever. You damn better appreciate that food," I said and yawned into my pillow. I was never going to pick up food after my class again. It would be a wonder if I got up on time tomorrow.

Soft footsteps announced his arrival in my room.

"I appreciate it, motherfucker," he said brightly. I turned my head to look at him as he sat down in my desk chair.

"How was your motherfucking class?" he asked me while slowly spinning in a circle.

I groaned. "Not good." That was an understatement. I had no idea what was going on and I had a huge test coming up. The fact that I sometimes slept through most of the class probably didn't help.

It was times like these when I doubted my choice of becoming a Computer Science major. I mean, I really wasn't all that good at programming anyway. In fact, I was the worst in my class. When I was small, I had always had the dream of becoming a police officer. And in high school I was the first chair Tuba player and our conductor had told me I could probably get a scholarship with it.

Then why the hell did I end up here, barely passing classes to get a degree in something I was terrible at? Was it the beauty of getting lost in the ones and zeroes? The wonder of figuring out how everything works? I have no idea. I just felt like something called me here, as ridiculous as that sounds. I had told Gamzee all this once and he just nodded sagely and said "Gotta up and follow your heart, Karbro."

"When did Tavros get a nose piercing?" I asked quickly before he could attempt to give me advice. My best friend chuckled and stopped spinning, smiling at me. I absently noticed that his face paint was smudged.

"I convinced him to all up and get his adorable nose pierced last week," he said and his grin grew wider. I made a face when he said adorable. It was somewhat surprising how mushy the guy could be.

"Was this one of your 'confidence boosting' ideas?" I asked him, lifting my hands up to make air quotes.

Tavros was ridiculously shy. It might have had something to do with the fact that he was in a wheelchair and everyone in the world was looking down at him. I don't care but, Gamzee had taken it upon himself to get his confidence up. This usually involved taking him places he'd never been and doing who knows what. Apparently, it also involved getting body piercings too.

"Miracles," Gamzee confirmed, bobbing his head. "Thanks for all up and stopping at the store after your class," he said and started swiveling again.

"Sure no problem," I mumbled into my pillow. He started to talk about something and I zoned out. I was so tired and all I could focus on was trying to relax. What movies should I watch tomorrow? Titanic was always a good one. But, I could never watch it alone and if Gamzee is going to do something with Tavros- I realized that the room was quiet.

"Did you hear me, Karbro?" he asked, his voice was unusually lucid.

"No, I didn't. In case you hadn't noticed I'm trying to sleep," I snapped.

He was quiet for a few heartbeats.

"I'm thinking of asking Tavros to marry me." His voice was dead serious. No jokes, no nicknames, completely and utterly serious.

I rolled over to look at him, my eyes wide in amazement. He had stopped spinning and was staring at me intently. His eyes had lost their happy glaze and were alert. Damn.

"You serious?" I could see his face flush where his makeup had rubbed off. He chuckled nervously.

"Yeah."

"Congratu-fucking-lations," I grumbled and rolled back over, pushing my face into the pillow.

"When can I expect the invitation?" Holy shit. Gamzee was going to get married. My best friend was getting married. Gamzee Makara. The stoner. Was. Getting. Married. Holy shit.

He laughed again. "I haven't actually thought about it too much," he confessed. " I just know that its something I want to do."

"Well, just let me know there anything I can do," I said.

"Aww, thanks bro. It's nice to have a motherfucker to depend on." I heard him stand up. He ruffled my already messy hair and left the room, turning the light off on his way out.

"Goodnight," I called softly.

"'Night Karkat," he said back.

I kicked off my shoes and slid under the covers. Right before I fell asleep I realized that I had forgotten to ask him about the boy I saw. It can wait till morning, I decided before sinking into a dreamless sleep.


	3. Chapter 3

_All the people who had reviewed, favorited, and followed this story- OMFG THANK YOU! Real life has been super complicated for me this past week and I am so sorry this chapter is so late! I will try to stay on some sort of schedule and get these chapters out! You all are a wonderful inspiration and I love you! (in a non-creepy way). Many thanks to Ash for proof-reading!_

* * *

I woke up to the melodious voice of my roommate. Fuck. It's too early for this.

"Rise and shine best friend!" Gamzee trumpeted happily from the kitchen.

"Fuck you, Makara," I grumbled and burrowed under my warm blankets. The beginnings of a headache made me wonder what time it was. Suddenly, my blankets were whisked away and bright light turned the insides of my eyelids red. A horn honked loudly in my ear.

"Gamzee!" I groaned and curled up. "It's too damn early and cold!"

A shadow blocked the light and I opened one eye to see him smiling down at me. He was wearing his pink polka dot apron over his usual polka dot pants and some obscure T-shirt. I looked at his feet and saw that he was wearing bunny slippers. Why did my roommate have to be the weirdest person on the planet?

"Aren't you just the cutest fucker."

I pulled my left arm out from under me and flipped him the bird. He chuckled and poked my side.

"You have class this morning, bro." Oh shit.

I shot right up as if someone had electrocuted me. "Oh my holy fucking shit!" I yelped.

"What time is it?" I demanded as I rocketed off my bed. My foot caught on a leg of my desk chair and I went crashing to the floor.

"Karbro, chill. It's only-"

"Ten thirty!" I shrieked as I saw my phone's display. "My class started half an hour ago!" I scrambled to my feet, snatching up notebooks along the way. I tore out of the room and shoved the books into my bag. Oh fuck. I'm really in for it this time. is going to have my head on a silver platter!

Gamzee followed me and watched as I looked for something to eat. "Wait, bro. Seriou-"

"I really have to go dumb ass!" I yelled over him as I grabbed a pop tart. Do I have everything?

"Shit! My computer!" I ran back into my room and dug it out from under a pile of papers.

I sprinted out of the apartment, pop tart hanging from my mouth and my computer under my arm.

"Calm the mother fuck down," Gamzee called after me.

The fuck was he talking about? How was I supposed to calm down when I was late? I dug my keys out of my pocket and unlocked my car. I threw my backpack and computer onto the passenger seat and jammed the key into the ignition. Without bothering to fasten my seatbelt, I pressed my foot against the gas pedal. The car sped out of the lot, leaving skid marks and the faint smell of burned rubber.

I zipped past a sign that said the speed limit was forty miles per hour. Screw that. The needle on the speedometer started inching towards sixty. I hoped there weren't any police officers around this. Shit! Some guy was crossing the street ahead of me. Instead of breaking, I pushed my foot down on the gas pedal and swerved around him.

"Use a crosswalk, jackass!" I yelled.

I made it to the school parking lot in two minutes, a record time for me. I walked slowly toward the computer lab, trying to think of what I should say. I didn't think she would accept an apology this time... I was doomed. I hung my head and opened the door...

And blinked in amazement. There were only three students in the room.

"Karkat!" exclaimed. "You're early!" What.

"Early?" I sputtered in amazement. "But it's ten-thirty!"

She looked at me like I had sprouted another head. "It's nine-forty five.'

I heard someone giggle and my middle finger immediately went up in their direction. glared at me and crossed her arms. I shrugged half-heartedly and sat down.

Suddenly, my phone vibrated. Text message? From who? I took out my phone and flipped it open. It was John Egbert. Suddenly, comprehension dawned on me. That sack of shit! He had changed my phone's time! And the clock in my room. I growled and stabbed the center button, opening the message. It read,

-Hey, Karkat! Have any EXCITEMENT this morning? ;D

Yes, as a matter of fact, I did. That smug little bastard. I was never letting him see my phone ever again. I hit reply.

-JOHN YOU ARE BY FAR THE MOST INFURIATING PERSON I HAVE EVER MET. FUCK YOU, FUCK YOUR DAD- IN FACT, FUCK YOUR ENTIRE GENERATION OF GODDAMN PRANKSTERS.

I sent it and seethed in silence. God damn! My stomach growled, reminding me that I had only had a pop tart for breakfast. I could already tell that today was going to be simply fantastic. My phone vibrated again. Without even reading what he had texted, I wrote,

-IM NOT TALKING TO YOU.

I clicked send and took my notebook from my backpack. I imagined John, tanned, kinda short, black hair, bright blue eyes and buck teeth. All in all, pretty attractive. Then, I imagined punching him in the face. My mood improved slightly.

I shoved my hand into my sweatshirt's pocket in search of a pen and instead, I found a receipt. It was from the grocery store, yesterday. In a flash, I remembered the boy I had seen. I opened a new message and typed,

-HOW THE FUCK DID JOHN RESET MY CLOCK AND PHONE TIME? ANYWAY. I WAS WONDERING IF YOU KNEW THIS GUY. HES REALLY TALL, THIN, AND WEARS WEIRD GLASSES WITH RED AND BLUE LENSES.

I sent that message to Gamzee and watched as more students filled the room. John texted me again and I sighed.

- cmon Karkat! it was harmless!

I resisted the urge to throw my phone across the room.

-NO IT WASNT. MY MORNING HAS BEEN RUINED BECAUSE OF YOU.

I ignored John's call and opened the message from Gamzee.

-UhH...i CanT sAy I kNoW tHe FuCkEr. TaVbRo mIgHt ThOugh. I wIlL mOtHeRfUcKiNg GeT mY aSk On. HoNk. :o)

The lights dimmed and I realized that class was starting. started a PowerPoint and I quickly texted a response.

-THANKS MAN

I settled back in my hard plastic chair and tried to focus. But, as I stared at the glowing projection, I felt my eyelids closing. I shook my head frantically, trying to stay awake. But I was so tired and hungry...A small nap wouldn't hurt...righ-

"Karkat!" said sharply. My eyelids snapped open and I sat up straight. I realized with horror that it was quarter to eleven. I had slept through more than half of my class! Shit. As if today couldn't get any worse.

"Which of these codes is correct for eliminating a virus?" Fuck.

I squinted at the projected screen. I had absolutely no clue.

"The...second one?" I guessed.

"Wrong!" I heard a giggle from the front of the classroom. "You can go back to sleep now."

I winced and hunched my shoulders, trying to hide the blush of embarrassment that tinted my face. I managed to focus for the rest of class. When the lights came back on, I packed up my bag and sighed again. I am so going to fail this class. I was almost to the door when I heard 's voice.

"Karkat."

Oh god. She's going to fail me. Dad is going to be so pissed. I turned around slowly, as if that could somehow prevent the conversation we were going to have. I shuffled over to her desk, feeling like I was back in high school.

"You're failing this class," she said bluntly. I hadn't realized that I had been holding my breath. I exhaled slowly and looked at her face. She was staring right at me.

"You know there's a big test coming up next month." Her voice was kinder this time, but to me, it sounded like a death sentence.

"Yeah, about that," I muttered and looked at my shoes.

"If you get a high score, it might lift your grade to passing. I recommend you get a tutor." Yup. I'm screwed.

"Right. Yeah. Of course," I promised. Where the hell was I going to find a tutor? Maybe Kanaya could help. turned away and I took that as a dismissal. I sighed again and plodded towards my car.

When I got back to the apartment, it was empty. He was probably at class. My stomach grumbled, reminding me again of my scant breakfast. I felt like eating macaroni and cheese. I took a box of kraft macaroni and cheese out of our mostly empty pantry and started making it.

I also decided to have hot chocolate. Macaroni and cheese, hot chocolate, and a rom-com could cure just about anything. While the water boiled for the macaroni, I started to boil a small pan of milk as well. When everything was finished, I brought it all to the couch and settled in to watch a movie. Part of the way through _Failure to Launch_, Gamzee sauntered in.

"Hey, motherfucker."

"Hey, douchenozzle." I sipped my cooling hot chocolate and kept watching the movie. Life was normal. He sat down next to me with one of his disgusting soft drinks and we watched the movie in silence. Just when the two main characters were forced into a room together to talk about their feelings, his head fell against and shoulder and he snored in my ear.

This was the best part! Some people have no appreciation for fine works of cinema. Well. Granted, this particular one wasn't the best-I had only seen it three or four times-but falling asleep during a movie was stupid!

"Get off of me, you turd muffin!" I hissed and elbowed him in the ribs.

"Motherfucking...muffins," he mumbled, still asleep. God, I hated it when he did this. And when he hugged me. It's just...No. You did not fucking hug me. There was no hugging Karkat Vantas. Ever. I shrugged my shoulder, trying to dislodge him. His hand flopped down right on the bruise that was forming on my leg from this morning.

"Fuck!" I hissed in pain and tightened my hands into fists.

"Get off!" I repeated, this time punching his stomach.

"Motherfuck!" he exclaimed as he fell off the couch. His face clouded with confusion and he sat up.

"Why are you up and punching a brother when he's trying to get his snooze on, Karbro?"

"You were sleeping on me, you moronic clown," I replied and turned back to the small tv.

"Oh." He produced a horn out of seemingly nowhere, and honked it. "Sorry 'bout that." He blinked slowly and got up, going towards the kitchen. Probably to make another god awful culinary creation. When the movie ended, I turned off the tv and stretched. I should text Kanaya.

"Sollux Captor," Gamzee said as I plunked my dishes in the sink. The hell?

"I only speak English. Try again, fucknuts," I snapped.

"Naw man. It's the name of the brother you were all searching for." Oh. What kind of a name was that? And yet, the name strangely fitted the boy I had seen. A weird-ass name for a weird-ass person. Perfect balance.

"How did you find out?" I leaned against the counter, trying to not look eager.

"Well." He put his mixing spoon down and took a deep breath. " I asked Tavbro, who texted Vriska, who was having lunch with Terezi, who texted Kanaya, who knows his ex-girlfriend Feferi, who's friends with his girlfriend, Aradia." He looked pleased with himself that he had remembered all that.

I blinked; I had no idea who most of those people were. Wait. "S-so all these people know I'm looking for him?" I stuttered in disbelief. Great. Just great.

Gamzee scrunched his nose.

"Yup."

Fantastic. And shoot, he had a girlfriend.

"Well. Thanks anyway," I mutter.

"No problem." He went back to mixing and I wandered back to the couch. I opened a new message on my phone.

-HEY KANAYA. I NEED HELP WITH SOMETHING. ARE YOU DOING ANYTHING RIGHT NOW?

A few seconds later, my phone buzzed.

- Hello, Karkat. I Do Not Have Plans For This Afternoon. Feel Free To Come By Whenever You Would Like.

-THANKS. IS UH VRISKA GOING TO BE THERE?

I hated that girl. She was the craziest person I knew, and not in a good way.

-No, She Would Appear To Be Out.

Jesus Christ in a bucket. Did everyone I know text in some weird way? I glared at my phone's broken keyboard. When Gamzee and I had shared a dorm room, I had once thrown the shitty thing out of our window. Our third floor window. Thankfully, it had landed in a bush. But, I was forever fated to text in caps until I felt the urge to get a new phone. Which I won't.

"I'm going over to Kanaya's," I told Gamzee as I went into my room. After changing my clothes and locating a suitably warm sweatshirt, I walked to the door.

"Ok?" Did he even hear me? He was humming and pouring a fruity smelling mixture into a pie crust. Ew.

"Miracles. Say 'hi' to that chica for me." I rolled my eyes and left.

Kanaya Maryam was my other best friend. If I had to pick a word to describe her, it would probably be elegant. She had an air around her that commanded your respect and attention. Her eyes were an unusually bright green against her caramel colored skin. Her major was Apparel and Fashion Design and she was apeshit bananas at it.

She lived in a dorm room with the craziest bitch alive, Vriska Serket. She was also the scariest bitch alive. You'd think that being in a fight where she lost sight in her left eye and got her arm mangled so badly that she had to get it amputated would dampen her attitude. Not Vriska. She probably asked if she could get her prosthetic arm with only the middle finger on it. I try to avoid her as much as I can.

"It's me," I said as I knocked on her door.

"It's unlocked," came the reply.

The room was obviously divided into two parts for two very different people. Kanaya's side of the room was tastefully decorated in shades of jade, yellow, and blue. Everything was organized and a floor lamp blanketed the room in soft light. Vriska's side on the other hand... Was that a condom on the floor? I used to feel sorry for Kanaya, but she assured me that she was friends with Vriska and everything was alright. Kanaya was the most normal person I knew, but I was beginning to doubt her sanity.

Kanaya was, of course, at her desk sketching out a pattern for something. I closed the door behind me and went over to stand next to her.

"Hello, Karkat," she said, looking up at me briefly before going back to her paper. "Please make yourself comfortable. I shall be finished in a moment." She was probably working on a dress. I sat down on her bed and waited.

A few minutes later, she sighed and pushed her chair away from the desk. "Thank you for waiting. This latest project is particularly difficult." She tucked her pencil behind her ear and bit her lip.

"What are you working on?" I asked, more out of politeness and wanting to put off my problems.

"A dress for Rose." Ah. Her girlfriend. "She finally consented to having me make a dress for her to wear to the winter formal." Now I get it. Kanaya had wanted to make her a dress for a while.

"And you don't know what to do," I finished for her.

"Yes. And this might be my only chance." She glared at her design sheet over her shoulder.

"Do you want any help?" I didn't know shit about making anything but, I felt that as a friend, I should offer anyway.

Her lips twitched into a smile. "No, it's quite alright. However, I hear that you have a problem?" The unhappy expression on her face changed into one of interest. Well, here we go. I hopes she could help.

"Yeah. I'm failing my Computer Science class." It was my turn to bite my lip. "I need a tutor and I was wondering if you knew anyone."

"I take it that all of your classmates are unsuitable?" Those idiots? Why would I want to spend anymore time with them then I had to?

I cleared my throat. "Yeah, that's one way of putting it."

"I heard you were looking for Sollux Captor." WHAT. Why the hell are we talking about this? My face heated up. I was blushing. Fuck my life.

"Why are we talking about this?"

She raised an eyebrow. "I was under the impression you wanted a tutor." I couldn't believe my ears.

"He does computer science?"

She nodded and smiled knowingly. "Correct."

I tried not to look too excited. I watched with mild embarrassment as her smile widened. Looks like I failed.

"Give me your phone," she extended her hand and I dropped my phone into it. "This is his number," she said while typing. I held out my hand for the phone but she paused.

"He is in a relationship," she reminded me. Who cares?

I smirked. "That hasn't stopped me before," I said, thinking of my brief fling with John. We had first met last year at a film festival. I had fallen hard for him, but he had firmly insisted that he was "not homosexual". He had even dated this girl in an attempt to prove it to me. However, after a certain night on a trip to the beach, he now had a much more open perspective-to say the least.

She frowned. "I know it hasn't...just...be careful."

"Yes ma'am," I said sarcastically and saluted her.

She sighed and gave my phone back. I slid it into my sweatshirt's pocket. Then a wave of doubt crashed over me. What should I text him? Should I call?

"Is there any chance you would.."

"Talk to him for you?" she finished for me.

"Well. 'Cause you already kinda know him so.." I trailed off.

"Of course I will. But you'll owe me a favor!" It would probably involve modeling something. It could be worse.

"Thanks, Kanaya. You're a gem." I stood up. Whew. Potential catastrophe avoided.

"You are quite welcome." She stood up and hugged me. Kanaya's hugs were an exception.

I was down hallway before I remembered Gamzee's message.

"Gamzee says 'hi'," I yelled over my shoulder. She stuck her hand out of the door and waved.

I was walking down the stairs when my phone buzzed. Was that Kanaya? I opened the text.

- are you the faiiliing moron who need2 my help?


	4. Chapter 4

_Oh my God. There is like no way I can express how sorry I am for my very impromptu hiatus! Feel free to throw pears at your computer screen in an attempt to hit me. But just ghjkfcdghjknh life is so frustrating, you know? ;n; I'll just stop and let you get on with reading this!_  
_ Oh, if you find ANY mistakes-and I mean ANYTHING- tell meeee! My wonderful editor person didn't get a chance to look over this so if there are any misspelled words, forgotten punctuation, or shit that just doesn't make sense, tell meeeee!  
_

_kthnx enjoy!_

* * *

I stared at my phone's screen.

"What...the...hell?" I stopped on the stairs and frowned. Obviously, Kanaya had wasted no time in contacting this guy. And he appeared to be a huge douche.

_WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU CALLING A MORON YOU RED AND BLUE SHIT FOR BRAINS?_

My thumb hovered over the enter button. Should I try to be civil? With good impressions and all...Oh, screw it.

I clicked 'send' and went down the rest of the stairs. He texted back just as I was getting into my car.  
_  
__obviiou2ly ii ju2t called you a moron. and ii2 that a fuckiing ye2 or a no? ii have 2hiit to do.__WELL IF YOU HAVE SO MUCH SHIT TO DO WHY ARE YOU EVEN BOTHERING.__  
_  
I slammed the door shut. Did I even want to waste my time on him?

_ iive deciided to be chariitable and help those who arent fortunate enough to have a braiin. and iim broke. iil ask again, fuckpod, ii2 that a ye2 or a no?__ RIGHT. YOUR GRACIOUSNESS FUCKING ASTOUNDS ME. AND FOR YOUR INFORMATION, THAT IS A NO_.  
_  
__have fun fiindiing someone who know2 what theyre doiing. _

God dammit. I resisted the urge to hit my head on the steering wheel. He was right, the smug bastard. I would rather go scuba-diving in the arctic than ask one of my classmates to help.

_FINE. WHERE ARE WE MEETING?_

I couldn't help but feel a bit happy that I was finally going to meet this guy. Even if he was a huge jerk.

_ii have no iidea. _

_cafeteriia at fiive?_

SURE. WHATEVER.

I checked my watch; it was two-thirty. I had some time to quickly review the material, eat some form of lunch, and try not to make a fool of myself.

When I got back to the apartment, the delicious smell of pie was wafting out of the open windows. Wait. Why were the windows open? Oh my god, what had that ass-totem done now?

I forced myself to walk slowly up the carpeted stairs in our building. Our door was wide open, practically begging anyone and everyone to walk in. Why was something always going on when I got home?

"Gamzee Makara, if you have done something to this apartment, my shit is going to flip so high it will be in deep space!" I shouted as I entered the small living room. I slammed the windows shut and realized that there was no one there.

"Gamzee?" Where had he gone? The pie was still baking, and the door had been open. My thoughts immediately went to kidnapping. I snorted-who would try to kidnap _Gamzee_?  
"That's ridiculous," I said out loud, trying to reassure myself. I walked through the apartment, checking each room for my missing friend. No sign of him. Fucksticks.

I went back into the living room, worry gnawing at my gut. Where could he have gone? Suddenly, someone tapped my shoulder. I swung around, bringing my elbow up in an attempt to hit the person in the face.

"Woah!" my assailant said as he leaned back, easily avoiding the attempted blow. "That is some sick karate, man," Gamzee said, looking at me through half closed eyes; a lazy grin stretched across his face.

"It was self-defense, you clown."

His arms wrapped around me and lifted me off of the ground.

"H-hey! Let go!" I yelped as he squeezed my ribs.

"Ain't nothing wrong with a bro-hug, best friend."

"There is everything wrong with it. Now put me down!" I hissed through clenched teeth and squirmed.

He slowly lowered me back to the ground. God, I hated my height!

As I moved away, I glared at him. "Why did you leave the door open? Someone could have walked right in!" And I was worried about you, I added silently.

"I was rescuing this caterpillar. Little buddy was all kinds of cute." He held up his two index fingers to show how small the caterpillar was. His eyes crossed and he looked absolutely ridiculous. He uncrossed them and cocked his head. "No need to worry 'bout me."

"I wasn't worried," I said immediately and his smile grew wider. "You might have set the apartment on fire or something." I walked over to the door and shut it.

"Alright, my brother," he said and shuffled over to the oven to check on his pie. I left him to his baking and turned my laptop on. As I waited for it to boot up, I drummed my fingers against the desk. A little bubble popped up on my desktop, indicating that I had two friends on Pesterchum. I had barely taken a breath before John messaged me.

|PESTERLOG|

- ectoBiologist [EB] began pestering carcinoGeneticist [CG] -

EB: hey karkat!

EB: you arent still mad are you?

EB: it was just a prank dude!

EB: karkat?

ED: ...

EB: oh. dave wants to say something

EB: i heard you have your panties in a bunch vantas.

CG: GO DIE IN A HOLE, STRIDER. I DONT NEED TO HEAR ANY OF YOUR METAPHORICAL HORSE SHIT RIGHT NOW. OR ANY DAY FOR THAT MATTER.

EB: touchy touchy.

CG: I NEED TO TALK TO JOHN

EB: hes currently unavailable.

CG: YOU AND I BOTH KNOW THAT IS A LIE. WELL WHATEVER. I DONT HAVE TIME FOR THIS. IM NOT MAD AT YOU JOHN BUT IF YOU DO THAT EVER AGAIN I AM GOING TO TEAR YOUR FUCKING APARTMENT DOWN.

EB: got a date, vantas?

CG: LEAVE ME ALONE.

-[carcinoGeneticist] is now offline-

I snorted. It didn't matter anyway. Fuck Dave and the shitty meteor he rode in on. I did not have time for this, I needed to eat something before I passed out from hunger. The macaroni I had eaten earlier felt like weeks ago.

I yawned and slowly walked to the kitchen, examined the ratty carpet as I went. Over the past few months, several accidents had stained the already ugly piece of fabric. Most of the stains were blood and there was a particularly huge one near the wall from when Gamzee had been drunk and spilled his bowl on the floor. That had been hard to explain to the super. Then there were little splotches from when he carried his paintbrushes into the bathroom to clean them. I pitied the person who was going to live in this place after us. They would probably think a murderer had been here.

When I got into the kitchen, the pie was cooling on the stove top. I hesitantly sniffed it, trying to detect any Faygo or weed. The only thing I could smell was fruit and it smelled fucking delicious. My stomach growled again and I noticed a yellow sticky note poking out from under the pie tin. In wobbly purple scrawl, it read:

kArBrO, iM gOnNa Be OuT lAtE tOnIgHt. HaVe SoMe PiE aNd ChIlL. hONk. :o)

I half smiled at the messy handwriting. Gamzee could be so strange sometimes. And for some reason, I was still here with him. He would probably call it "Magic bro-ship" or something equally stupid.

"Maybe it is magic bro-ship," I murmured out loud without thinking. What if someone heard that? I tensed and looked around, as if someone could hear me. I laughed quietly at how paranoid I was being. I really did need to chill out.

After extracting a large piece of pie, I grabbed a fork and scooped my book up from under the couch. It was a trashy romance novel I had picked up at the library for fifty-cents and I had no intention of letting anyone know I was reading it, hence, I hid it under the couch.

Without really focusing, I brought a forkful of pie to my mouth and flinched when the scalding food hit my tongue. I swallowed frantically, trying to stop the burning sensation without spitting up all over my book. I dropped the fork and ran the sink. Turning on the cold water, I stuck my tongue into the soothing stream. Stupid pie. What the hell did I ever do to it?

"I hate burns," I grumbled and began reading again. When the rest of the pie had sufficiently cooled, I finished it off quickly and went back for another slice. Before I knew it, it was five o'clock. My sense of time was really off today, I thought as I dashed, yet again, into my room to get my stuff.

After hastily locking up and getting into the car, I drove towards campus. The cafeteria was a large white room with almost painfully bright lights. Plastic covered wooden tables were situated haphazardly around the room. As I opened the door, I shivered despite my thick sweatshirt. Why was the air conditioning on?

"Ridiculous," I grumbled and looked around for Sollux. I found him in the far left corner. He was having what seemed to be an intense conversation on his cell phone. I walked up slowly, trying to prolong the inevitable.

In no time, I had arrived at his table. His eyes remained glued to the wall as he listened to whoever was on the other line. I sat down across from him and leaned back in my chair. Damn, he was cuter than I remembered.

My eyes immediately went to his glasses; I could barely see his eyes moving around behind the semi-opaque lenses. I lazily examined his face while wondering who he was talking to.

I tried to ignore Sollux's conversation but, I found my curiosity getting the better of me as his voice progressively got louder.

"Yeah, well. I don't know," he replied harshly and glared at the wall with a new intensity. His voice was higher than I thought it would be, but not too much.

"You know what? I can't take this right now. Right, yeah, like you care. I don't need your pity," he spat.

"Bye." He violently snapped his phone shut and spun around to look at me. His glare disappeared and was replaced by a look of wonder.

"Itth you," he said, looking confused.

I snorted when I heard his lisp. He frowned as I coughed in an attempt to cover it up. Alright, first step: Introduce myself.

"The fuck is up with your glasses? Are you into cosplay or some shit?" The words were out of my mouth before I could even consider stopping them. Signaling Karkat, Captain of the S.S Douchebag, you fail at life. I should just give up all attempts at good first impressions.

Sollux scowled again and crossed his arms. "Great, are we breaking out the fucking stereotypes? I guess you paint your face and dance around a fire on the weekends?"

"What the fu-"

"Just because I am half-Korean does not fucking mean that I dress up in some shitty costume and prance around!"

"Calm the fuck down! Jesus Christ, I didn't even know you were half-Korean!"

"Huh?" I saw his eyes widen behind the glasses that had started this whole mess.

"And it's not like I even give a fuck! I was just asking why the hell you're wearing those absurd glasses! And second of all, if you're going to be a hypocritical bastard, get your motherfucking facts straight! My mother was from India, I am not Native American and there is a huge difference, dammit!"

I could hear my voice echoing around me and I suddenly got the feeling that everyone in the cafeteria was staring at us. I turned around and-yup. "What are you all looking at?" I yelled.

When I twisted back to look at him, his mouth was hanging open slightly.

I smirked as he cleared his throat and pushed his glasses back up. Karkat: 1, Sollux: 0. He mumbled something that sounded vaguely like an apology.

"What was that?" I asked, leaning forward. I am the overlord of ass-holery. It is me.

"I said 'I'm sorry', now can we fucking get on with it?" he snapped.

"Fine," I shrugged, aiming for nonchalance. Seconds ticked by and nobody moved.

"My name's Karkat." Oh, someone save me from myself. There is no way that could be more awkward. Have a yelling match with some person you just met, and then announce your name? Jesus Christ in a basket.

When he didn't reply, I slid my eyes over to his and found staring at me with an expression I couldn't quite read.

"What?" I growled as my face grew warm.

"Nothing, nothing," he replied and shook his head. "I'm Tholluxth." I bit my lip hard, trying to keep from laughing. He couldn't even say his own name!

"Could you repeat that?" I really couldn't resist it.

"Tholluxth." He glared at me again, knowing full well what I was doing. "Eth-damn it." He took a deep breath and spoke very slowly.

"S-o-l-l-u-x. Sollux."

"Alright, Tholluxth," I grinned and watched as his face turned pink. Messing with this guy was so much fun.

"Do you want help or not?" he growled. I flipped the book open to the right page and spun it around so he could see it.

"You're having problems with this?" he said incredulously. "This stuff is easy."

"Keep your damn opinions to yourself." I said, feeling mildly embarrassed. Fucking karma.

"It's not an opinion, it's a fact." he retorted. "Do some problems or whatever." He pushed the book back to me and started kneading his temples as if he had a headache.

Well, his personality wasn't doing me wonders either. I bounced my knee up and down to distract myself from the urge to punch him.

I stared at the wall of print for a few moments before reluctantly working on the exercise. I heard a quiet sigh from across the table.

"What? Am I not going fast enough?" I looked up from my notebook and glowered. He jumped and looked up from his phone. Smart people, I thought scathingly. They always think they're so damn better than-

"Huh? Oh, uh nothing. Never mind," he mumbled and went back to staring at his phone. Less than a minute later I heard him sigh again. I pressed my pencil down so hard the lead snapped.

I sighed and put my pencil down. "Come on, just spit it out," I said as I crossed my arms and lifted my eyebrows.

"Explain what?" he shrugged one shoulder. "There's nothing to say. I don't even know you."

I continued staring at him until he slumped down in his chair and let out a sigh of his own.

"It's Aa," he finally said. Must be his girlfriend. I gestured for him to continue.

"I feel like she's been avoiding me lately. At first it was all ok but, now she's started talking to me less and less. She also stopped wanting to hang out. And when she does want to do something she suggests a day when I have class."

She's cheating, no doubt about it. The more distressed Sollux became, the more he lisped.

"She knowth I have clath thothe dayth so I don't get why the would do that. When we do get together the always seems preoccupied and I'm sure she isn't cheating on me or anything because she's too...she jutht wouldn't do that to me." He was bending his fingers against the table and kept his eyes on the wall while he talked to me.

Wow. This guy was clueless. . I should be tactful with this..

"She's cheating on you." Oops.

"No she isn't," he replied almost automatically.

"Uuh. Alright, maybe not. Have stopped and actually thought about it?" He shook his head. Oh boy, this was going to be interesting.

"She's purposely making dates on day she knows you have class to make it look like she wants to spend time with you. She's focused on something else all the time because she's probably thinking about whoever she's cheating on you with. You should confront her." I should charge for all the times I give the useless people I know relationship advice.

He shook his head. "Really?" He closed his hand into a fist and I watched as his knuckles turned white.

"Yeah. Sorry about that."

Sollux looked like he wanted to kill someone.

"Let me see that," he said suddenly and yanked my notebook away.

"I wasn't done!" I protested.

"You're doing it wrong anyway." He turned it around so I could see it and began explaining. A slightly awkward half-hour later, I finally knew what I was doing.

As much of an asshat he was, he really did know what he was doing. I could tell that he wanted to go see this "Aa"-wasn't her name Aradia or something equally ridiculous? Honestly, parents were just trying to one-up each other on uniqueness these days- and probably break up with her. I hoped she had a baseball bat to defend herself with.

"Twenty bucks," he said as I closed my books.

"What!" I protested. "No way."

He shrugged. "I have to eat, don't I?"

"I do too!" The nerve this guy had! I freaking help him with his 'woe is me' romance problems and he wants twenty dollars for helping me for a measly thirty minutes? Out of his mind.

I dug my hand into my pocket and dropped ten into his hand. "That is all you are getting." I gathered up my books and walked away.

He caught up to me easily. These stupid tall people. He should be arrested for excessive tallness.

"Whatever," he grumbled and I was surprised. Really? I had kind of expected him to have a problem. Oh well, my money to save.

"What's your chumhandle?"

"CarcinoGeneticist."

"The hell does that mean?"

"Dictionaries are wonderful tools of the twenty-first century."

He snorted and headed towards the other door. "Later."

|PESTERLOG|  
twinArmageddons [TA] began pestering carcinoGeneticist [CG]  
TA: cancer or 2ome 2hit?  
CG: CONGRATULATIONS. YOU HAVE LEARNED HOW TO INTERPRET A DICTIONARY. I AM APPLAUDING YOUR NEWFOUND SKILL.  
TA: yeah whatever 2hut up.  
CG: WHY DO YOU TYPE LIKE THAT ANYWAY. ITS GIVING ME A FUCKING HEADACHE.  
TA: aww poor kk. He ha2 a headache. Do you need me two come over and hold your hand?  
CG: KK?  
TA: your name ha2 two k2. haviing 2iimple math problem2 too? ii wouldnt be surpriised  
CG: SHUT YOUR FACE  
TA: ehehehe  
CG: SO WHATS THE DEAL WITH YOUR GIRLFRIEND?  
TA: uh.  
TA: 2he2 been cheatiing on me wiith thii2 guy  
CG: OH. SHIT, THAT REALLY SUCKS, MAN.  
TA: eh. iit2 not that biig of a deal ii gue22  
CG: LIES. YOU LOOKED LIKE YOU WERE GOING TO KILL SOMEONE.  
TA: ii dont really feel liike talkiing about iit.  
CG: THATS FINE. I SHOULDNT HAVE BEEN PRYING. DO YOU HAVE AN XBOX?  
TA: hell ye2 ii do.  
-

We spent the rest of the evening playing various games. From Borderlands (which we totally owned), to Portal (which we totally sucked at).

For a while, it had been a little awkward, but after I took a break to eat dinner, he was much more talkative. And I think he was drunk. Then, somehow, the conversation turned to Aradia.

"But...you know, KK, I really loved her. Like," Pause. "Tho much."

"Can you just pay attention?" I grumbled as I saved his ass again.

"Yeah, thure."

Less than ten seconds later, "It was really my fault though. I didn't talk to her at all, really. I probably got what I deserved, right? Ah, well, fuck women;I am so done with them. I'll be gay for life," he announced grandly.

"How much have you been drinking?" I asked in astonishment as I watched his character jet pack off the side of a cliff.

"Not too much," he said airily.

"You're not even legal, are you?"

"Of course I am. I'm twenty-one, stupid," he giggled.

"Are you gay?"

I debated whether or not to answer with the truth. "..Yeah." It wasn't like he was going to judge.

"'Cause you know, KK...you're kinda cute." He sounded kinda shocked himself, as if the thought had just struck him and he had to share it.

"And loud," he continued. "You're tho loud for thomeone tho thmall. I mean, you're like a little rage monthter." Between his slight slur and his lisp, it was almost impossible to understand what he was saying. All the same, I felt my face heating up.

"I-I'm not small, you douchecanoe," I spluttered.

His giggling was cut off and I heard a yelp and a crash. "Ow, Jethuth!" Everything was quiet.

"Sollux?" No answer. "Earth to Sir-Lisps-a-lot, do you come in?"

"Don't get your pantieth in a wad, princeth. I just fell off my chair."

"You what?" I laughed as I thought of Sollux flailing his arms as he tumbled to the ground.

"Oh, shit!" I heard him exclaim.

"What?"

"I had a programming project due at midnight! Gotta split."

A pop-up appeared saying that he had disconnected. I rolled my eyes and turned off the console. I stood up and stretched, making the bones in my legs and back pop.

As I stared drowsily at my bedroom ceiling, I thought about Sollux. And thought about him. And thought about him some more. Somewhere along the way, my thoughts had strayed out of the "friendship" zone and more into the "I want to kiss him senseless" zone. This is crazy, though. I just met the guy today and I was pretty sure I hated him. Right? I guess there really was a fine line between love and hate. God. This feelings shit was turning me into a girl.


	5. Chapter 5

Gawd. this one took so long because I've been having somewhat of a rough time with life these past few weeks. In short, everything has been super stressful, my girlfriend who I still love broke up with me, and a shitton of other stuff. ANYWAY! Don't worry, I won't abandon this story! I've got sooo many plans for it :D TO all the people who like/read/favorite/commented on this- THANK YOU SO MUCH. It really means a lot to me. ENjoy!

* * *

"You have a cat?"

Sunday afternoon, the day before my huge C.S test. Sollux had assured me that I was, "more than ready, dipshit" but, after listening to me freak out over the phone for ten minutes, he consented ot having me come over just to run through everything again. I eyed the two empty plastic tupperwares that looked like they may have once held food and water.

"You can barely take care of yourself; what nutcase entrusted you with the wellbeing of another living creature?"

"Hmm?" He looked up from his computer and squinted at the containers. "Oh, yeah. I _do _have a cat. I wonder where it went." Sounding completely uninterested, Sollux turned back to the monitor.

"You lost your cat?" And he referred to the cat as 'it'?

"Well. Define 'lost'. I haven't seen it for a few days, I guess."

"Somehow, that doesn't surprise me," I muttered and rolled my eyes.

"Kk, what are you doing?" He asked as I crouched as looked around the room.

"Looking for your potentially dying cat, you moron."

Without waiting for a reply, I moved to the next room.

"Here, kitty, kitty," I called.

"Are you fucking serious?"

"Yes, I am, so shut your mouth, Captor."

Suddenly, green eyes appeared in the dark under the couch. The eyes blinked.

"There you are," I cooed softly. "Come on out." The eyes came close and the feline emerged from under the furniture.

The cat was black with a few white splotches here and there. It padded over to me and sniffed my hand cautiously. Wow, this cat was adorable.

"Sollux! Is your cat a boy or a girl?"

"How the fuck would I know?"

I rolled my eyes in disgust. "Because it's _your_ cat, assmunch!"

Pause. "A boy, I think."

I settled down on the floor and waited for the cat to become accustomed to my presence. Various tips from a shelter program I participated in once floated back to me. Something about letting the animal come to you and not overstimulating it.

"I hope you feel fucking guilty for what you've done to this cat, Captor," I grumbled just loud enough for him to hear. He actually looked pretty good for a supposedly malnourished animal.

Footsteps announced the arrival of said animal abuser.

"He doesn't look all that bad." Sollux crouched next to me and immediately the cat fluffed up and hissed.

I started laughing as the cat unsheathed his claws and swiped at Sollux's hand.

"He really doesn't like you!"

Sollux scowled. "Shut your face."

"You should probably move back a bit."

"When did you become the animal expert?" he muttered, but did as I asked.

The cat calmed down and his fur slowly flattened.

"I became the expert when it became apparent that your knowledge on the matter of caring for pets was zero."

I turned my attention back to the cat., who was now sniffing my leg. When he deemed I wasn't a threat, he rubbed his face against me.

"What's his name?" I asked as the cat promptly curled up in my lap. I managed to turn myself around to look at Sollux without dumping the animal on the floor.

The silence was enough of an answer. At least he had enough grace to look embarrassed.

"I, uh, never gave him one. I guess, well," his voice faded and he stared his gaze to the ceiling.

"His name is Sherman," I said immediately, almost cutting him off.

"What! First of all, fuck no. That's a stupid name. Secondly, he's my cat!"

"Nope." I stuck my tongue out at him. "Sherman is an amazing name and I don't see you taking care of him. You like your new name, right?" I directed the question at Sherman and he purred in response. Sign from the cat god of the universe.

"Why the hell did you get a cat if you were going to ignore him?"

"I didn't want a cat. Feferi found him as a stray and dumped his furry ass on me."

That explained a lot. One of his insane exes. Feferi's intentions had been good, I suppose.

"Well, from now on, you have to take care of him."

"Or what?"

"Or I'll kick your ass," I growled. Sherman pricked up his ears and blinked.

"But he hates me!" Sollux whined and glared at the cat.

"And he has good reason for that! How could you neglect him? He's fucking adorable." Sherman lashed his tail and hissed at Sollux. "And blood thirsty," I added with another laugh. "He's...adorabloodthirsty."

"That is the stupidest thing I have ever heard."

"Live with it."

"But, seriously, Sherman?" Sollux asked skeptically.

"I've always wanted to name a cat Sherman," I confessed as I scratched the cat behind his ears.

"Hmph," was Sollux's reply. "So, what are you doing today?"

"Mmm, not much. Gamzee's working on a big project so I probably won't go back to the apartment any time soon." The whole place would probably smell like blood. My stomach twisted at the thought of it.

"I was thinking..do you want to go see a movie? There's this new horror thing I wanted to seethat looks pretty good, but it's really no fun going alone so-"

"Sure, that sounds cool," I interrupted.

"-I was just wondering if-huh? Oh, great!" He grinned and I wanted to hit my head against the floor. Horror movies _sucked._

–

Two hours, 8 dollars, and a near disaster later, we emerged from the theater.

"I can't believe that you don't have the stomach for gore," he chortled. Haha.

I punched him and his laughs turned into wheezes.

"If you ever mention that to anyone I will knock your teeth out," I threatened as I stepped off the curb.

"As if you could- watch out!"

He grabbed my hand and pulled me back as a car sped by.

"Jackass!" I yelled after it. "Thanks," I turned to Sollux and then I realized that _he hadn't let go of my hand. _

This was just like in one of those movies where the guy saves the girl in slow motion, the violins play, then they kiss and- woah, chill. Wait, I would so not be the girl in that scenario. And besides, it probably means nothing. Especially if he lets go in 3...2...1...

His hand was still there. I glanced up at him and he met my eyes. Blushing, he started to pull away. I made a split second decision to take a chance on him.

I tightened my grip and, after making sure there weren't anymore cars trying to kill me, crossed the street.

We passed under a street lamp and I shivered. Jesus tits, it was cold. Sollux's frigid grasp really wasn't helping, either. He's going to freeze to death, I thought as I noticed that he wasn't wearing a jacket.

"You should be wearing a coat," I informed him and his laughter sounded a bit forced. Then he stopped, and his hand slid from mine.

"Karkat, I can't." Well, fucksticks.

"Can't what?" I asked even though I knew what the answer would be.

"This, whatever that was." He gestured between us. "You. Me. I just..."

He took a deep breath and let it out slowly.

"I don't want to hurt you," he said carefully. "I need to get my head straight."

"That's cool," I found my self saying. "I can wait." I grinned as I realized that I meant it.

"Great." He smiled back at me and we kept walking.

"You still need to put a damn jacket on."

–

"Fucking hellbuckets," I cursed as I remembered that I had left my books at Sollux's apartment. I huffed angrily and grabbed my phone.

_I LEFT MY STUFF AT YOUR PLACE. I'M COMING OVER OT GET IT. _

When he didn't reply, I just took it as a "sure whatever" and got in my car.

It took twice as long as it should have to get to there. This may or may not have been a mix of long traffic lights and several wrong turns. Yeah, it was totally the traffic lights.

Thankfully, the main door was unlocked because he wasn't answering his phone.

_HELLO? _

His door was ajar when I knocked and it swung into an empty room.

"Hey, Sollux? Ever heard of answering your phone? I left my stuff here so-" I turned the corner and was confronted with a scene that was altogether too disturbing.

He was _kissing_ another guy. They broke off- did Sollux push him away? I couldn't tell, I was too busy focusing on how to keep breathing.

"Get the fuck out of here, Ampora," Sollux practically yelled. The guy, Ampora, put one hand on his hip and rolled his eyes. What the FUCK?

"Are you really kickin' me out Sol?"

Rage bubbled up inside of me and when I found my voice, I was surprised that it was icy-calm.

"Oh, don't let me interrupt you. I'll be gone in a minute."

I went to the table, trying to stop myself from shaking.

"Karkat, wait-fuck, no-God Ampora will you just LEAVE!" He was yelling now.

"Fine," came a huffed reply. "See ya later Sol."

I jerked the zipper closed on my backpack. "Don't," I said as I heard Sollux's footsteps. "I don't care."

"Karkat, just let me explain! I didn't know Eridan was here! He just showed up and-"

"I said save it!" I snapped and felt my face heat up. My heart was hammering so loudly I could hear the blood rushing through my ears. Words raced around in my head until I finally whirled around to face him.

"I don't give two shits about your excuses, Captor. You can kiss whoever the fuck you want to! What I do care about is that you couldn't bring yourself to tell me the truth! If you don't like me then don't string me along!

"I wasn't lying! I didn't want him to fucking kiss me! He just fucking waltzed in here! I don't get why you're so worked up about this because we aren't even dating!" His voice was so loud it hurt.

I swallowed and clenched my fists. "And now you can be sure we never will," I said hoarsely and walked away from Sollux Captor.


	6. Chapter 6

HOly crap, has it really been so long since my last update? aaaah, I'm sorry orz I'm going to stop staring at this chapter and post it already. c: Enjoy!

* * *

"Watch it!" a voice yelled at me. I turned around just in time to see someone climb over the fence behind me and drop to the ground. They rolled forward and took off running, clipping my shoulder and almost sending me ass over heels. The figure kept going and vaulted over a picnic table.

"Hey, prickbucket!" I yelled and the man stopped short. I stormed towards him as he turned.

"KK?"

It was Sollux. He pushed up his goggles and squinted at me. Woah. His eyes were too different colors, one green and one blue. It felt like he was looking right through me. Red colored his cheeks and he scrabbled through his bag for his glasses. As he put them on, I noticed that his fingers were shaking. In fact, most of him was shaking.

I scowled at him and was about to walk away when a football came out of nowhere and torpedoed into Sollux's head. He lost his balance and slammed into the picnic table with a sickening crunch. Blood started to drip through the grate and onto the concrete.

"What is your problem you dense sacks of shit?" I yelled at the guys who had thrown the ball.

Without waiting for a reply, I spun around.

"Sollux?"

When he didn't answer, I stepped toward him. _Crunch. _I picked up my foot and saw the twisted and broken pieces of Sollux's glasses. Fabulous. After picking up the bits and shoving them in my pocket, I turned his body over. Blood gushed from his already swelling nose. The more I stared at his broken nose, the harder I had to fight back the urge to throw up. First aid directions floated back to me from 9th grade health.

Check to see if the person is unconscious.

Yeah, he couldn't get more unconscious if he tried.

Staunch the blood flow.

When I saw that he wasn't wearing a jacket, I growled and shrugged off mine. I _liked _that jacket. I gently held it against his nose and tried to remember what to do next.

Shift nose back into place.

Right, my favorite part. The cartilage would probably crunch and—ew. I gingerly took hold of his nose and jerked it back into place.

Sollux twitched and opened his eyes. "Fuck," he groaned. "I'm gonna miss class. Again."

"Well, it's your own damn fault. You shouldn't have been jumping over things like a crazed monkey. Now instead of going to the library I have to haul your sorry ass to the hospital."

He ran his fingers lightly over his nose and winced. "I don't need to go to the hospital." He put my jacket back against his face and sighed. I stopped and evaluated my situation for the first time. Sollux Captor was not someone I wanted to see, especially after what happened a few weeks ago.

"Um. I hate to ask this, but could you drive me home? I can't really get behind the wheel like this."

Kanaya's advice echoed in my head. "_I think you really overreacted, Karkat. Instead of preemptively throwing accusations around, you should have let him explain himself. If he didn't have a good reason, __then you could've kicked his ass." _

"Sure. Just don't get blood all over my car, Captor."

Sollux smiled weakly and stood up. I grabbed his bag and followed him, hoping he wouldn't fall over.

"Karkat. I'm really sorry," He huffed. His face was extremely pale, though that probably because of the bleeding. Oh God, I really didn't want to talk about this now.

"Do we have to talk about this now?"

"Yes." He stopped walking and looked at me. "What happened with Eridan was an accident, you have to believe me."

"_I don't think you should throw away a chance to be with him because of a misunderstanding."_

I frowned and bit my lip. Oh, what the hell. "I believe you. Now let's get going before you fall over."

This time I remembered the way and didn't get lost. I parked and bit back a sigh of frustration—Sollux had fallen asleep.

"Wake up!" I shook him and the bastard slept on. I couldn't just leave him...I hoped none of his neighbors would call the cops on me. I wrapped my arms around his waist and pulled him onto the ground. I started to drag Sollux to his apartment. Of course, the elevator had to be out of order and, of course, he had to live on the fifth floor.

If I dropped him now, he would probably lose all his teeth, I noticed as I rested between floors. A very long ten minutes later, we arrived at his door. I rummaged around in his ugly yellow bag for his keys. Bingo! I laughed in triumph and grabbed Sollux. A movement in my peripheral vision cause me to freeze. An old lady down the hall was staring at me.

"Can I help you with anything?"

She didn't answer. Her pale eyes didn't even blink, they just continued to stare at me.

At a loss of what else to do, I went back to hauling Sollux inside. Holy shitmuffins that was a creepy old lady. Or maybe I had been watching too much Supernatural.

I propped him up against a wall and nudged him with my foot. "Get your ass up. I'm not carrying you anywhere else."

"Where the hell am I?" came the groggy reply.

"In your apartment, fucknob."

"Woah, really?" His eyes opened and he squinted at me. "My face hurts," he complained. "My back hurts too. Shit, KK, did you drag me up the stairs?"

I cleared my throat and avoided his accusing gaze. "How else was I supposed to get you up here? You should be grateful I even bothered."

He slowly got to his feet and began to shuffle to the kitchen. "Yes, thank you so much. I am forever in debt to you," he grumbled. He shook pills out of a bottle and swallowed them without water. Blech.

I plunked myself down in on the couch next to Sherman. The cat mewed sleepily and stretched.

"Why were you jumping tables, anyway?"

Sollux returned with a cold compress balanced on his head. He unceremoniously shoved Sherman off the couch and took his place.

He shrugged. "Parkour is a wicked rush, man. I usually park in one of the lower lots and run to class. You're not going to chew my ear off about how dangerous jumping off and over things is, are you?"

"Well it is pretty stupid and you could have landed on your face or killed yourself-"

He snorted and rolled his eyes.

"-Let me finish, fuckpopsicle. I was going to say, it does look cool."

"AA used to bitch about how 'reckless' it was and that I was going to kill myself one day. Hey," He sat up suddenly, and grinned. "Do you want me to teach you some simple moves?"

Was he nuts? "Dude, you broke your nose this afternoon. Maybe you should take it slow for a bit." And under your instruction I would probably make a complete fool of myself and almost die in the process, I added in my head.

"I guess you're right," he sighed and slumped back into the couch. Then he frowned, as if he had just remembered something important. "Uh, KK? Where are my glasses?"

Balls. I had forgotten about the catastrophe of metal in my pocket. "I, uh, might have sort of accidentally stepped on them." Wincing at Sollux's horrified expression, I pulled out the ruined glasses and set them down between us.

"...Well, shit," he finally said and rubbed his eyes.

"I'm really sorry!" There was no hope for the poor ocular device; the blue lens had broken into several pieces and the frame was a convoluted mess. Guilt, so much guilt.

"It's fine. No, really," he added when he saw my skepticism. "I have a spare pair I can use for a while until I can replace these."

"Oh...Alright."

"I'm hungry. Do you want to order pizza?"

"...Sure."

|Pesterlog|

-twinArmaggeddons [TA] began pestering carcinoGeneticist [CG]-

TA: kk

TA: there2 2omethiing ii wanted two a2k you

TA: an2wer me you douchemuffiin

TA: karkat vanta2

TA: ii know youre there

CG: JESUS TITS CAPTOR CALM YOUR ASS

CG: SOME OF US HAVE IMPORTANT THINGS TO DO IN LIFE

TA: bull2hiiit

CG: OK WELL YEAH. WHAT DO YOU WANT ANYWAY?

TA: riight. are you doiing thii2 weekend?

CG: NOTHING TO MY KNOWLEDGE. WHY?

TA: there2 thii2 carniival happeniing

TA: and ii thought iif you were goiing we could hang out

TA: or 2omethiing

CG: FUCK YES

TA: really?

CG: ARE YOU SHITTING ME? I LOVE CARNIVALS. I THINK I REMEMBER GAMZEE SAYING SOMETHING ABOUT IT EARLIER. SOMETHING ABOUT HOW HE VOLUNTEERED TO PAINT FACES? I HAVE NO CLUE.

TA: ehehe that would be amu2iing

CG: NO IT WOULDN'T. WE DON'T WANT A HOARD OF MINI GAMZEES RUNNING AROUND. I'M GOING INSANE JUST THINKING ABOUT IT.

CG: SO I'LL SEE YOU THERE?

TA: yeah

CG: GREAT (:B

-carcinoGeneticist [CG] disconnected-


End file.
